Friday

Nov 2, 2018 at 3:30 AM

You know those yahoos filling the background at Trump rallies and shouting “lock her up”? Well, they have lives. Quite interesting ones at that, as proven by Frederick Wiseman’s labor of love, “Monrovia, Indiana.” Screening Nov. 4-24 at the Museum of Fine Arts, the documentary is typical of past observational treatises from the 88-year-old Boston native in which he’s profiled subjects as varied as the New York Public Library and the Jackson Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. But those were “big-city” documentaries; “Monrovia” is small-town all the way.

Or, more precisely it’s Middle America, what we snobs on the coasts term “the flyover states.” They’re also the voters who played a huge role in putting Donald Trump in the White House, earning the scorn of liberals everywhere. Some might even call it hatred, and that doesn’t sit well with Wiseman, who -- camera in hand -- sets out to study what these country folks are actually like by infiltrating their quaint community for several months during the spring, summer and fall of 2017.

The result of his endeavor is “Monrovia.” Unlike those disingenuous “voter” pieces produced by MSNBC and CNN claiming to humanize and understand the Trump-backers, Wiseman’s treatment is sincere and in depth. Think of him as a Jane Goodall type, hiding in the bushes and silently observing the day-to-day lives of his subjects. There’s no narration because Wiseman knows words are superfluous when the images speak so loudly on their own. At times, he gets a little too indulgent, like sitting in on a town council meeting that begins to lag around the 4-minute mark.

But most of what’s here is fascinating, especially the people, who are far from the “deplorables” Hillary followers famously dubbed the lot. They’re family types with a tight circle of friends and a fervent belief in God and the hereafter. They’re charming, funny and, in many cases, talented. We meet a lot of Monrovians in all sorts of places: a rustic breakfast cafe, tattoo parlor, barbershop, body shop, fitness center, pizza joint, grocery, gun shop and, of course, church, where we watch both a wedding and most movingly, a funeral. Wiseman also takes us out to the scorching-hot fields to meet family farmers, sowing their crops, tending to their growth and experiencing the harvest. True to Wiseman’s vérité style, it’s strictly no questions asked. The only talk is the everyday chit-chat among family, friends and attendees of various clubs and meetings, where non-operational fire hydrants are of utmost importance.

As a child of the Midwest, I can attest to the accuracy of what Wiseman captures in depicting the views, beliefs and attitudes of rural America. Never is Trump’s name mentioned or politics (other than council meetings) broached, but it doesn’t take a Mitch McConnell to tell you the electorate is approximately 90-percent Republican. The takeaway is that Easterners and Westerners may love to put the “hicks” down, but the truth -- like it or not -- is the voters populating these small, red states control more than 65 percent of the representatives elected to Congress. So in essence, what they say goes. So, it’s Wiseman’s contention that it’s high time we got to know and understand them. And I can safely predict that after seeing “Monrovia” you’ll never diss or take these wholesome, salt-of-the-earth folks for granted again. Chew on that, liberals!